The present disclosure relates to a fixing device configured to fix a toner image on a recording medium and an image forming apparatus provided with the fixing device.
An electrographic image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine and a printer, is provided with a fixing device configured to fix a toner image on a recording medium such as a sheet. The fixing device includes a fixing member (for example, a fixing roller or a fixing belt) and a pressing member (for example, a pressing roller or a pressing belt) configured to come in pressure-contact with the fixing member. By heating and pressing the recording medium and the toner image at a fixing nip formed between the fixing member and the pressing member, the toner image is fixed on the recording medium.
For example, a fixing device including the fixing roller, the fixing member arranged around the fixing roller, the pressing member which comes in pressure-contact with the fixing member to form the fixing nip and a separating member which separates the recording medium passed through the fixing nip from the fixing member is provided. The above separating member has a separating plate which faces a sheet passing region (a region through which the recording medium is passed) of the fixing member with an interval and a restricting piece which comes in contact with a non-sheet passing region (a region arranged outside the sheet passing region).
In the above-mentioned fixing device, just after passing the fixing member through the fixing nip, the fixing member does not contact with the fixing roller closely but floats from the surface of the fixing roller into an expanded state radially outward (a bent state), resulting in contacting with the restricting piece. If such a contact may occur repeatedly, the non-sheet passing region of the fixing member may be damaged and, therefore, the lifetime of the fixing member may be adversely affected.